Travel

“Let them out!” came chants from people lining the streets on the opening night of Six Flags Magic Mountain’s Fright Fest. When the large wooden gate swung open at 7 p.m. sharp, zombies, demons, and ghouls ran out and vanished into the night for the start of the biggest, most terrifying Halloween celebration yet at the Valencia amusement park.

Jack Skellington from “The Nightmare Before Christmas” is back at the Haunted Mansion, Space Mountain has become the Ghost Galaxy coaster, and a giant Mickey Mouse jack-o’-lantern is glowing on Main Street, U.

Now here’s some good news: This weekend will provide an opportunity to see some of Southern California’s best museums – for free. On Sunday Sept. 17, more than 50 cultural centers are waiving entrance fees in celebration of

ONTARIO >> As part of a plan to woo San Gabriel Valley residents to Ontario International Airport, a Pasadena resident has taken a seat on its five-member governing body. The city of Ontario has the ability to name four of the five members of the Ontario International Airport Authority, and with a recent resignation, officials have tapped Julia Gouw as a replacement, despite living 35 miles to the west of the airport.

ONTARIO >> Ontario International Airport officials have long envisioned tapping into the San Gabriel Valley’s Chinese-American population as a means to bolster traffic at the facility. Two recent developments could help make that a reality.

Angels Flight is back. Or is it? It’s hard to keep track. The world’s shortest railway, as it’s known, Angels Flight trundles up and down Bunker Hill in downtown Los Angeles — when it’s working, that is.

LOS ANGELES >> Los Angeles International Airport officials are forecasting that 888,000 passengers will pass through LAX over the four-day holiday weekend beginning Friday. If that forecast holds true, the number would be a 4.

Universal Studios’ Halloween Horror Nights has announced its collaboration with producer Jason Blum’s Blumhouse Productions to bring franchise films like “The Purge” and “Sinister,” as well as the forthcoming “Happy Death Day,” which hits theaters Friday, Oct.

Though Universal Studios Hollywood’s Halloween Horror Nights has produced dozens of attractions based on some of the biggest feature films and TV shows within the horror genre, producer and creative director John Murdy said that the walk-thru mazes based on Blumhouse Productions’ “Insidious” films remain a top fan favorite.

Director, producer and writer Eli Roth, known for films like “Hostel” and “Cabin Fever,” as well as his role as Donny Donowitz in Quentin Tarantino’s “Inglourious Basterds,” was tapped by Universal Studios to create a 30-second bi-coastal commercial for the theme park’s annual Halloween Horror Nights in Hollywood and Orlando.

If you’re a senior citizen who likes to visit national parks, there’s a deal you should know about before it’s gone. The National Park Service is boosting the price of a lifetime pass for seniors — known as the America the Beautiful, National Parks & Federal Recreational Lands Senior Pass — from $10 to $80 on Monday, Aug.

Monsters will be taking over the Guardians of the Galaxy — Mission: Breakout! attraction at Disney California Adventure during the Halloween season this year. The Disneyland Resort announced a Halloween-themed “overlay” for the new attraction, which opened in May.

There’s nothing Joshua Tabor hates more than not getting to put his Six Flags Magic Mountain season pass to use because the theme park isn’t open on the day his 14-year-old son happens to be on a break from school.

A memorial honoring Confederate veterans has been removed from the Hollywood Forever cemetery days after deadly violence in Charlottesville, Virginia, erupted over the planned removal of a statue of Confederate Gen.

The nearly 100-year-old train depot that houses the Children’s Museum at La Habra may soon be getting a much needed face lift.The city applied this week to the California Cultural and Historical Endowment Museum Grant for $75,000 to renovate the historic building.

PASADENA >> The Rose Bowl is repurposing a hallowed locker room, where football legends like Knute Rockne once inspired their teams, into a showcase for a potential full-sized museum. The locker room was used for the stadium’s first six years before it was turned into a storage room.

BUENA PARK >> Sixteen riders will ascend 150 feet at a 90-degree angle. At the roller coaster’s apex, they will pause to catch their breath. Then the track will seem to vanish — sending thrill-seekers plunging down what is billed as California’s steepest roller coaster drop.

The kid peeked out from the window of his mother’s car and saw a white sheet with a body beneath it.It was Monday, June 13, 1994. The kid was 6, and his mother had picked him up early (he had a stomach ache) from the YMCA on Bundy Drive in Brentwood.

POMONA >> Horses and fast cars have long been part of the history of Fairplex. Automotive “trials of speed” were on the mind of the founders of the L.A. County Fair and were written into the Los Angeles County Fair Association’s articles of incorporation, said Dale Coleman, vice president of sales and creative programing at Fairplex.

Did you know that Aug. 16 is National Roller Coaster Day? I know, every single day of the year is the national day for one thing or another. They don’t require an act of Congress — just someone with something to promote or to sell.

The Aquarium of the Pacific went into cuteness overdrive Tuesday as the newest little resident waddled into its new home Tuesday morning. The yet unnamed, months-old chick joined its family and more than a dozen other Magellanic penguins at the aquarium’s June Keyes Penguin Habitat.

ANAHEIM >> The Disneyland Resort is making a big change in the parking policy for its Downtown Disney parking lot. Beginning Wednesday, Aug. 16, 2017, the new policy will provide two hours of free parking, but only if a $20 minimum purchase is made and validation received from any Downtown Disney location.

We all love vacations, don’t we? Except you Type A folks out there who need one more than the rest of us combined. But you can spend a fortune on them, especially if you need to eat and sleep on your trip.

This year, as America celebrates the 100th anniversary of John F. Kennedy’s birth, I find myself on an itty-bitty palm-shrouded uninhabited island in the far-far-flung South Pacific, with a huge lump in my throat.

Need a break? Why spend your precious leisure time stuck in traffic? Or fighting crowds at the airport? The beautiful coast of Ventura County is so close, with lots of things to do that are free or very cheap indeed.

Star Wars land: Galaxy’s Edge in Disneyland doesn’t open until 2019 but fans wanting to step inside a galaxy far, far away will soon be able to through a virtual reality experience. Lucasfilm’s immersive entertainment arm ILMxLAB, along with a partnership with virtual reality creators, The Void, announced Thursday, Aug.

The steam whistle blew and rounding the bend of the Disneyland Railroad in Frontierland after an 18-month closure, was not one, but two steam locomotives coupled together — a historic moment for the classic Disneyland attraction.

SAN MARINO >> The famed “Blue Boy” is getting ready for a facelift. The Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens announced Thursday plans for a two-year conservation effort to tend to the 18th century work by British painter Thomas Gainsborough.

The announcement that the Los Angeles metropolitan area will host the 2028 Summer Olympic Games raises an interesting dilemma for the region’s tourist attractions. In 1984, the last time they were here, Disneyland experienced some of the smallest summer time crowds in its history then, as many locals left town.

WASHINGTON >> Donald Trump once questioned the wisdom of taking vacations. “What’s the point?” he asked. But now the president is getting ready to join the annual August exodus from the city he calls “the swamp.

Tickets for Universal Studios Hollywood’s annual Halloween Horror Nights are now on sale, including passes for its all-new R.I.P. Tour. The event kicks off on Friday, Sept. 15 and runs on select nights through Saturday, Nov.

The Queen Mary is home to a new photographic exhibit of the Titanic that includes images spanning the oceanliner’s inception to its tragic demise more than a century ago. Based on a historical novel of the same name, the “Titanic in Photographs — The Exhibition” showcase opened to the public on July 4, and will remain open through July 2018.

ANAHEIM >> The conductor yelled “All aboard!” Steam was injected into the locomotive’s cylinders, and the Disneyland Railroad was back running the rails. Disneyland’s classic attraction was closed in January 2016 so construction could start on Galaxy’s Edge: The “Star Wars” land, which will open in 2019, needed 14 acres, at least some of which was carved out of the Frontierland wilderness.

Can’t get to outer space in this lifetime? For $12,500, you can send a gram of your cremated remains blasting onto the moon or have them shot out into deep space. It costs about $5,000 for a “burial” in low-Earth orbit, where a travel-shampoo-size urn can spin for years at 17,000 mph until it gradually descends into the white-hot re-entry atmosphere.

Ash Williams has unleashed a slew of deadites and they’ll soon be descending upon unsuspecting victims in the all-new Universal Studios Halloween Horror Nights maze based on the gory-comedic Starz television series, “Ash vs Evil Dead.

Your attention please. The Disneyland Railroad, Mark Twain Riverboat, Columbia Sailing Ship, and the canoes will open to the public again Saturday, July 29, at Disneyland. All of them were closed for more than a year while Disney rebuilt the Frontierland area to make room for the 14-acres needed for Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge — which will open in 2019 at the park.

California has banned texting while driving on the state’s roads. Is it time for Disneyland and local theme parks to ban texting while walking, too? As much as fans like to complain about strollers, people whose gaze is focused on the screen in their hands instead of the pathway ahead of them are responsible for clogging a lot of the foot traffic around the parks, too.

Four hotels are coming to Monterey Park and San Gabriel, all with the aim of catering to Asian tourists. Some are closer to their grand openings than others. Construction for the Sheraton Los Angeles San Gabriel hotel, at 303 E.

Fans of Knott’s Berry Farm in Buena Park now have another spot to relax and eat, as the Boardwalk Barbecue is finally open. The name may sound familiar, as there was a walk-up eatery with the same moniker which closed and there has been a buzz about this new rendition since construction began in April.